In Paris On Shank's Pony.

This is part of the story of Colin and Barbara's trip to Paris in August September 2001. They were lucky to be able to stay with friends, Keith and Meta, in the 5th arrondisement.The keen reader will notice that the trip to Paris began from London. This is not the ageing couple's usual stamping ground. They came to be in London as a consequence of the arrival on Earth of their first grandchild: Sacha Bishop Meiers was born in London 25/07/2001.
Colin wrote this account from Barbara's diary; so the first person in the Adventures is Barbara.
All the grammatical and spelling errors, in fact any mistakes whatsoever, are Colin's

Friday 17/8/01: Day 22.

Warm day - rain predicted.
We set off 10 am to Dulwich North railway station to go to Waterloo Station (changing at London Bridge Station to the underground Jubilee Line), to catch the Eurostar for Paris.
We had to collect our tickets so many minutes before the scheduled departure of the Eurostar. The first one of the trains from Dulwich North was cancelled, but another train came after a ten minutes wait.
We made it to Waterloo Station with about five minutes to spare in which to collect our tickets by the designated time.
Then we sat and waited about an hour before boarding the train which was running late because of bad weather in France.

The trip to Paris took three hours. The Eurostar is very comfortable. Our tickets, booked seven days in advance, were the cheapest available: cost in GB pounds 95.
We arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord. We had to wait on the station concourse, teeming with travellers etc., while Barbara's friend, Meta Smith tried to find us. While we waited, Colin withdrew 600 francs from an ATM on the platform, and gave half to me. This was lucky because someone soon picked his pocket, either on the station or on the RER train we caught to Luxembourg Station.
Colin lost his wallet, Australian and French money, credit cards, and driver's licence. He would probably have lost his passport, too, had not Meta's sharp eyes noticed it peeping from another pocket.
Somewhat stunned, struggling with our heavy back packs, we proceeded by foot from Luxembourg Station to 7 Rue Blainville in the 5th arrondissement, just behind the Pantheon.

This area is a surprise. Cobbled, narrow streets radiate almost all ways from small squares. Rue de Blainville is about eighteen feet wide at the widest, narrower in places. Cafes and restaurants are all along and all around this block. It's hilly. Lots of motor traffic. Yet the Smith's is a quiet, peaceful apartment/flat, perhaps because it faces the inside of the block, not the street. From the windows there is a leafy view of courtyard, balcony and gardens.

Keith and Colin went to the Commissariat of Police, and Colin telephoned to Kath (in Australia in the middle of the night) to stop the credit cards.

We ate at a local restaurant, less than five minutes walk from the flat. Full of atmosphere: heavy wooden black beams, smoked white walls and ceilings, lots of greenery, tapestry on the walls.
We ate the 64 franc menu. Colin ate a plate of charcuterie, fricassee of curried bird, and apple pie. Keith (Meta's husband) and I ate chicken with tarragon, chips and salad. Meta had pork with orange, chips, and salad. For dessert Meta and I had ice cream, Keith had apple pie. Bottle of red.
We slept well.

Saturday 18/8/01: Day 23

Weather warm and humid.
From the flat, Colin and I went forth, walking, through the morning.
After walking around the block a few times to make sure we would recognise the area when we returned, we headed downhill towards the Seine and the Notre Dame spire which we could see in the distance.
We were, or certainly I was, weary by the time we got there, and a bit footsore, so we sat for a while and gazed at the cathedral and nearby gardens. Then we walked around the cathedral. We did not join the enormously long queue to enter because we had been inside in 1998. It was being renovated then and we thought it the least attractive of all the cathedrals we had seen in France and Italy.
Instead we explored the corridors and indoor courtyard garden of the Hotel de Dieu - a public hospital. There were historical photographs to look at, and in the garden a lampooned statue wearing a strange collection of clothes.
At a nearby cafe, we bought a ham baguette each and stood eating in the shelter of a building as light rain had begun to fall.

We joined a queue to visit historic Sainte Chapelle. Very beautiful stained glass windows. But the attitude of some of the tourists was disappointing. They talked noisily and coarsely in a sort of English and ignored repeated requests from the attendant to behave themselves. Nationality? one guess should be sufficient.

Our wandering continued past the Ministry of Justice and the Conciergerie until we needed lunch. In a cafe called La Colonnade, Colin ate a Salade Nicoise, and I had a Croque Madame (I think it's a Croque Monsieur with a fried egg) with chips and salad. We bought two bottles of water and two bowls of cider each.
From La Colonnade, we went into nearby Saint Germain d'Auxerrois Church. Free, large, and worth seeing. This church had a clock, and bells rang melodiously every quarter hour. Across the road from the church, we saw a very impressive building running the length of the block. This turned out to be the back of the Tuileries Palace, alias Le Louvre.
We were certainly glad to get home after walking back up the hill from the Seine to the Contrescarpe.

That night, Meta served parsnip and chestnut croquettes on lettuce. These parsnips were London ones that Colin had bought in the vegetable department of Sainsbury's, as parsnips are a delicacy Meta believed unkown to Parisian greengrocers. The delicious croquettes were followed by Rendang (meat curry), Achaar (vegetables), and rice. Ice cream with a topping of Creme de Cassis (Velours de Nuit au Cassis) came to the table next.

Sunday 19/8/01: Day 24.

First there was light rain and a mild temperature, but later the weather became fine and warm.
Keith and Meta, Colin and I all set off walking along the Rue Mouffetarde towards the Jardin des Plantes. The gardens are extensive, well laid out, and well labelled. In the general area are also a zoo, a building displaying stuffed animals, and a prehistoric area.
Having passed through the gardens, we came to the Seine and walked along the embankment. Vagrants were living under bridges, their plastic and cardboard residences complete with the usual comforts of home including barbecues, televisions, and motor cars. Barges and restaurant vessels steamed up and down the river.
When we reached the second bridge past Notre Dame, Keith and Meta parted from us to walk back to their flat. Colin and I and Win had come to here by Metro underground in 1998, and photographed a war memorial in the street (Bvd Saint Michel).

Colin and I now continued along the River and crossed a bridge to reach the point where we'd turned for home the previous day. Through a gate at the back of the Palace of the Tuileries, we entered a huge courtyard (Cour Carree), reminiscent of the one at the Prytanee, a military academy we had visited at La Fleche in 1998. All around the walls of the courtyard on two or three levels were statues, the Caryatides.
We crossed the courtyard and passing through another gate, found ourselves at the front of the building, looking at the Pyramide (designed 1989 by I.M. Pei, an American-Chinese architect.
There was a queue from the entry, right across the courtyard, winding back under the building's porticos; so we decided our examination of the interior could wait for another day. Instead we walked through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (it commemorates Napoleon's victories of 1805), into the Tuileries Gardens.

We ate lunch at an open air cafe in the gardens. Here I was tricked by the waiter into giving a generous tip. I gave a large note expecting change, but none came. We waited but the waiter simply smiled from a distance. Bought and ate some icecream, too. We saw children sailing boats on a round pond, fish rising for breadcrumbs, and another round pond with ducks. Eventually we reached a gate leading into the Place de la Concorde, and walked on up the Champs Elysees.

This was a long road, first tree-lined, then lined with brand name shops. Fortunately, MacDonalds was there, and Colin used its convenient toilets. The footpath was packed with people. At the end is the Arc de Triomphe (well, maybe the Champs Elysees continues). The Arc is huge and stands in a circle of noisy traffic, so it must be reached by means of a pedestrian tunnel. It is hard to judge the Arc's immensity in photographs.

We set off walking for Keith and Meta's from here, quite late, about 5 pm. We attempted to navigate by guesswork, always heading towards where we thought the Luxembourg gardens should be. But we did take a long time to get home, walking through the 7th, 6th, and even the edge of the 14th arrondissement. Our track looked strange on the street map.
Tea was at an Italian restaurant. Pizzas, salads and desserts.

The next morning, Keith and Meta intended to leave the flat early to travel to Dijon and Chamonix. They were to have several days holiday.
You will find our story continued in Barbara's next chapter,
Alone_In_Paris